2019-06-01+Sky+and+Telescope

44 JUNE 2019 • SKY & TELESCOPE

Mercury

Saturn

Uranus

Neptune

10 "

June 1 11 21 30

116 30

11630

16

16

Venus

Jupiter

Mars

JUNE 2019 OBSERVING
Planetary Almanac

The Sun and planets are positioned for mid-June; the colored arrows show the motion of each during the month. The Moon is plotted for evening dates in the Americas when it’s waxing (right side

illuminated) or full, and for morning dates when it’s waning (left side). “Local time of transit” tells when (in Local Mean Time) objects cross the meridian — that is, when they appear due south and at

their highest — at mid-month. Transits occur an hour later on the 1st, and an hour earlier at month’s end.

The table above gives each object’s right ascension and declination (equinox 2000.0) at 0h Universal Time on selected dates,

and its elongation from the Sun in the morning (Mo) or evening (Ev) sky. Next are the visual magnitude and equatorial diameter.

(Saturn’s ring extent is 2.27 times its equatorial diameter.) Last are the percentage of a planet’s disk illuminated by the Sun and

the distance from Earth in astronomical units. (Based on the mean Earth–Sun distance, 1 a.u. is 149,597,871 kilometers, or

92,955,807 international miles.) For other dates, see skyandtelescope.com/almanac.

PLANET VISIBILITY Mercury: visible at dusk all month • Venus: visible at dawn all month •

Mars: visible at dusk through the 29th • Jupiter: rises very early evening, visible until dawn •

Saturn: rises before midnight, visible until dawn

PLANET DISKS have south up, to match the

view in many telescopes. Blue ticks indicate the

pole currently tilted toward Earth.

PEGASUS

CAPRICORNUS

AQUARIUS

Fomalhaut

Rigel

PISCES

Pleiades

Vega

HERCULES

CYGNUS

SCORPIUS

OPHIUCHUS

SAGITTARIUS

AQUILA

ERIDANUS CETUS

ARIES

TAURUS Betelgeuse

MAJORCANIS Sirius

ORION

CANCER

Pollux

Castor

Procyon

Arcturus

CORVUS

GEMINI

VIRGO

BOÖTES

LIBRA

Spica

LEO

HYDRA

Regulus

Antares

10 am 8 am 6 am 4 am 2 am Midnight 8 pm 6 pm 4 pm 2 pm

RIGHT ASCENSION

4 h 2 h 0 h 22 h 20 h 18 h 16 h 14 h 12 h 10 h 8 h 6 h

DE

CL

IN

AT

IO

N

EQUATOR

LOCAL TIME OF TRANSIT

10 pm

+30°

+40°

–20°

–10°

–30°

–40°

0°

+10°

+30°

–20°

+10°

+20°

0°

–10°

–30°

–40°

ECLIP

Saturn TIC^

Uranus

Neptune

Jupiter

Mars

Venus Mercury

22

28

25

6

12

9

June

16 – 17

44 JUNE 2019 • SKY & TELESCOPE

Date Right Ascension Declination Elongation Magnitude Diameter Illumination Distance

Sun^14 h 33.4m +21° 57′ —–26.8^31 ′^33 ′′ —1.014

30 6 h 33.5m +23° 13′ —–26.8^31 ′^28 ′′ —1.017

Mercury^15 h 26.0m +25° 00′ 12° Ev –1.1 5.5′′ 87% 1.231

11 6 h 45.9m +25° 04′ 21° Ev –0.4 6.4′′ 64% 1.058

21 7 h 44.4m +22° 22′ 25° Ev +0.2 7.7′′ 45% 0.875

30 8 h 15.5m +19 ° 0 6′ 24° Ev +0.9 9.2′′ 29% 0.732

Venus 13 h 11.3m +16 ° 2 9′ 20° Mo –3.8 10.5′′ 94% 1.588

11 4 h 00.8m +19 ° 3 8′ 17° Mo –3.8 10.3′′ 95% 1.625

21 4 h 52.1m +21° 56′ 15° Mo –3.8 10.1′′ 97% 1.656

30 5 h 39.5m +23° 08′ 12° Mo –3.9 9.9′′ 98% 1.680

Mars^16 h 43.7m +24° 13′ 30° Ev +1.8 3.9′′ 98% 2.428

16 7 h 25.4m +23° 10′ 25° Ev +1.8 3.7′′ 98% 2.502

30 8 h 03.4m +21° 37′ 21° Ev +1.8 3.7′′ 99% 2.560

Jupiter 117 h 18.5m –22° 30′ 170° Mo –2.6 45.8′′ 100% 4.302

30 17 h 03.0m –22° 15′ 159° Ev –2.6 45.5′′ 100% 4.330

Saturn 119 h 24.0m –21° 40′ 141° Mo +0.3 18.0′′ 100% 9.249

30 19 h 16.3m –21° 57′ 170° Mo +0.1 18.4′′ 100% 9.047

Uranus^162 h 11.9m +12 ° 4 5′ 49° Mo +5.9 3.4′′ 100% 20.491

Neptune^1623 h 19.1m –5° 30′ 96° Mo +7.9 2.3′′ 100% 29.815

June Sun & Planets